No homeland security: We are no safer now

Michael Hampton

13 years ago

From Raising Kaine comes a study (PDF) commissioned by Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on the threat of terrorism using weapons of mass destruction: “–for the foreseeable future, the United States and other nations will face an existential threat from the intersection of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.”

The world faces a 50% chance of a terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction over the next five years, which rises to 70% over ten years, according to the study.

Raising Kaine also links to a CIA study showing that Iraq has become a terrorist breeding ground. The classified document describes the threat of jihadists leaving Iraq for other points in the Middle East to set up terrorist networks using experience gained during the Iraq conflict. Update 25 June: Bruce Schneier points out a Newsweek article describing some of the terrorists’ tactics in Iraq and how quickly they are adapting.

The stark truth is that terrorism here happens as a direct result of U.S. foreign policy. That has been my statement for a long time, and the Pentagon report here confirms it. Without the U.S. meddling in the affairs of other countries, nobody would have cause to hate the U.S. According to Thomas Jefferson, the answer is “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with none.”

The answer is still as valid now as it was in Jefferson’s time; can we ever be truly willing to implement it?